La Petite Nation and the Papineaus: Background to The Seigniory Club 1674-1957.

Author: Claxton, Brooke. [Brian Brooke Claxton, 1898-1960]

Illustrator:

Reference #: 1535

Status: For Sale

List Price: $590.00

Ethel Wilson – Association Copy

Ottawa: Self Published, 1957. Quarto; (11"). Cerlox bound. About Fine pp. [8] + [1]-51 pp.; Typed manuscript printed on rectos only with the exception of frontispiece portrait of Papineau and a photocopied map of The Seignoiry Club portion of Quebec.

From the prefatory notes of the author: "The story of the Seigniory of La Petite Nation at Montebello is of unusual interest because of its situation, its size and the historical associations of its successive owners - Bishop Laval, the Seminary of Quebec, Joseph Papineau, and most of all, his son, Louis Joseph Papineau. My interest in the Seigniory began in the 1930's with some litigation about the right to fish in Lac Commandant (or Papineau) which turned in part on the history of the Seigniory." He summarizes the study thusly at pp. 50-51: "As we have seen, the Seigniory Club carries forward until today memories of events in the history of the country of consequence beyond their local interest. Touching here were the early explorations of Champlain, the Indian wars, Recollet and Jesuit Martyrs, Laval - the great founding Bishop of New France - the Seminary, the notary and politician Joseph Papineau, his son, the great tribune, Louis Joseph Papineau, "patriot" or "rebel", as you like, and a grandson, the nationalist Henri Bourassa, and a great-grandson, Talbot Papineau, lover of Canada, who lost his life so early in a war for freedom." A truly unique and desirable Association Copy of a scarce title, signed on the title page by the author and inscribed to "one of our greatest writers", viz. Ethel Wilson, whose signature appears at the top of the first blank. Verso the front stiff card covers is the book plate of Wallace and Ethel Wilson.

The author – born Brian Brooke Claxton, 1898-1960 – became a Member of Parliament in 1940, and served as the Minister of Health from 1943 until 1946, and then as Minister of National Defence from 1946 until 1954 under Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King. Among his many contributions was his support for, and work towards the creation of, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. [ vide Bercuson; True Patriot: The Life of Brooke Claxton, University of Toronto Press, 1993.] .

The cerlox binding has a handful of damaged rings, as is common, but the binding remains firm; the front and back boards are, in turn, covered with a clear page. It is, otherwise, a clean copy.